What was sarah baartman famous for
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Sarah Baartman
Khoikhoi woman (c. 1789–1815)
For the South African patrol vessel, see Sarah Baartman (ship).
Sarah Baartman (Afrikaans:[ˈsɑːraˈbɑːrtman]; c. 1789 – 29 December 1815), also spelled Sara, sometimes in the diminutive form Saartje (Afrikaans pronunciation:[ˈsɑːrki]), or Saartjie, and Bartman, Bartmann, was a Khoekhoe woman who was exhibited as a freak show attraction in 19th-century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus, a name that was later attributed to at least one other woman similarly exhibited. The women were exhibited for their steatopygic body type uncommon in Western Europe that was perceived as a curiosity at that time, and became subject of scientific interest as well as of erotic projection.
"Venus" is sometimes used to designate representations of the female body in arts and cultural anthropology, referring to the Roman goddess of love and fertility. "Hottentot" was a Dutch-colonial era term for the indigenous Khoekhoe people of southwestern Africa, which then became commonly used in English, but which is now usually
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Interactive Map
Sites of memory related to
serious human
rights violations
Saartjie Baartman Memorial
Site
Theme: Slavery
Theme: Violence against women, sexual diversities and/or for gender reasons
Address
R330 highway up to Phillipsville, 6350
Theme: Slavery
Theme: Violence against women, sexual diversities and/or for gender reasons
Purpose of Memory
To commemorate the life and figure of Sarah Baartman, whose history, journey and legacy make her a symbol of the victims of slavery, racial discrimination and gender-based oppression in South Africa.
Date of creation / identification / declaration
2002
Public Access
Free
Location description
Sarah Baartman’s grave is located on the outskirts of Hankey, in the Gamtoos River Valley, considered her birthplace. The grave is covered with pebbles, some of them with pieces of paper with the image of Baartman’s face endorsed by the South African government, and surrounded by a metal fence structure. Outside the fence, a bronze pla
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Sarah Baartman was exploited throughout her life. Her shameful treatment casts a long shadow today
Not even her early death could put an end to the abuse she endured in life. It took a president's lobbying and the fight of her people to finally lay her to rest.
It's a Saturday night in London's Piccadilly Circus.
The year is 1810.
An excited crowd gathers outside a theatre at the end of a laneway.
Folks of all ages are dressed in their finest.
They pay two shillings and snake their way into a large room.
On the stage is a near-naked woman.
A man standing close by orders her to sing, dance, walk.
Those in the audience who've paid extra push to the front to poke the woman's black skin.
A room full of English eyes stare at Sarah Baartman, the star of the show.
The one they've lined up for.
And Sarah Baartman stares right back.
Born around 1789, Sarah, also known as Sara or Saartjie, Baartman was a Khoisan woman, a First Nations person from the Western Cape of South Africa.
"We like to believe that we [Khoisan people] were the first h
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